Quiet vs quite
Quiet usually describes something with little or no sound. Quite is an adverb that goes before another word to change how strong it is: completely, very in American English, or fairly in British English.
Quiet has two syllables, qui-et. Quite has one, and its final e is silent.
quiet adjective
Having little or no sound, with no noise that bothers you.
- The countryside felt remarkably quiet once the highway was behind us.
- Please be quiet while the baby sleeps.
quite adverb
Completely, or, before words like good or hard, very in American English and fairly in British English. It goes before another word.
- The lecture was quite interesting, though it ran a little long.
- By midnight the streets were quite deserted.
Watch out
- Quite means completely with words like deserted, sure or agree. With words like interesting, it usually means very in American English but fairly in British English, where I quite like it means a bit.I quite agree with everything you said at the meeting.
- Quiet can also be a verb meaning to make someone or something stop making noise, or to become quiet. British English more often says quieten.The conductor raised his hand to quiet the orchestra.
- Quite a or quite an before a noun marks something as special or surprising.Finishing the marathon in that heat was quite an achievement.
Test yourself
The library is always very blank in the morning.
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quiet. This describes a place with little or no sound.
The test was blank hard, but I finished it.
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quite. Quite goes before hard to tell how hard: very hard in American English, fairly hard in British English.
Please keep blank during the exam.
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quiet. This asks people not to make noise.
She was blank sure she had locked the door.
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quite. It tells you how sure she was.